Country Life Calcium Magnesium

[Watson350]

I have trigeminal neuralgia or ethmoidal nerve damage and boswellia extract along with biotin has almost completely dissipated my discomfort. I am currently on a diet and decided to cut back on milk and cheese and take a supplement for my calcium instead. My died is high in blueberries, chicken, bananas, diet soda, vegetables and coffee. Today when I added the calcium magnesium country life pill this stirred up my inflammation for the first time in weeks. Am I getting sufficient calcium from another source I am not privy to and thus over indulging in the pro-inflammatory calcium composition of my diet?

 

[tara]

Hi.
Sorry about the nerve issues. Doesn't sound like fun. Glad you've found things that give you some relief. (I don't have neuralgia, but my trigeminal nerve does kick me around regularly.)

I'm no expert, so don't take this as expert opinion, but I think Peat has expressed reservations about citrate, and I think aspartate may be tend to be a nerve stimulant - maybe not what you would want more of in a neuralgia situation? Looks like those are the forms of Ca and Mg in that brand of supplement? The excipients don't look great. Not sure about the hydroxyapatite form.

If by diet soda you mean artificial sweeteners, I think some of them also tend to have some exitotoxic effects. Is there a reason you are drinking those instead of juice, milk and the occasional real sugar drink?

Whether you are getting enough calcium and magnesium without supplements probably depends on how much and which veges you are eating. If you are cooking and eating a very large amount of various greens, and drinking the broth too, you might be getting up there. Otherwise, possibly not. If milk or cheese agree with you, would you be able to include more of them? Otherwise, Peat has recommended clean eggshell powder as a reasonable form of supplemental calcium. Personally, I'm using oystershell powder (and Mg carbonate powder at the moment).

You can use something like cronometer to get a rough idea of what you are getting from your food.
I imagine you've tried many things.
You might want to check if you are covering other vitamin and mineral needs. I think other B-vits are also important for nerves. A serving of liver once a week, or smaller amounts more often, can make a good food multi-vitamin.

 

[Watson350]

Hi.
Sorry about the nerve issues. Doesn't sound like fun. Glad you've found things that give you some relief. (I don't have neuralgia, but my trigeminal nerve does kick me around regularly.)

I'm no expert, so don't take this as expert opinion, but I think Peat has expressed reservations about citrate, and I think aspartate may be tend to be a nerve stimulant - maybe not what you would want more of in a neuralgia situation? Looks like those are the forms of Ca and Mg in that brand of supplement? The excipients don't look great. Not sure about the hydroxyapatite form.

If by diet soda you mean artificial sweeteners, I think some of them also tend to have some exitotoxic effects. Is there a reason you are drinking those instead of juice, milk and the occasional real sugar drink?

Whether you are getting enough calcium and magnesium without supplements probably depends on how much and which veges you are eating. If you are cooking and eating a very large amount of various greens, and drinking the broth too, you might be getting up there. Otherwise, possibly not. If milk or cheese agree with you, would you be able to include more of them? Otherwise, Peat has recommended clean eggshell powder as a reasonable form of supplemental calcium. Personally, I'm using oystershell powder (and Mg carbonate powder at the moment).

You can use something like cronometer to get a rough idea of what you are getting from your food.
I imagine you've tried many things.
You might want to check if you are covering other vitamin and mineral needs. I think other B-vits are also important for nerves. A serving of liver once a week, or smaller amounts more often, can make a good food multi-vitamin.

Thank you Tara, I appreciate your feedback and I am sorry for your trigeminal flare ups. Curcumin may help you as I find it to be even more powerful than boswellia though I stay away from it because it is an alpha phase five inhibitor and blocks dht, so I get all the negative prostate cancer drug like effects. Not sure that DHT is as relevant in female brain chemical composition but what do I know.

I believe milk and cheese is fine for maintaining your weight, however, if I am to acquire adequate protein per lbs while incorporating fruits/veggies I will have to sacrifice satiation and meal frequency in order to drop fat.

 

[tara]

I am sorry for your trigeminal flare ups.

Mine are migraine - somewhat different mechanisms I think , but the trigeminal nerve gets involved.

I believe milk and cheese is fine for maintaining your weight, however, if I am to acquire adequate protein per lbs while incorporating fruits/veggies I will have to sacrifice satiation and meal frequency in order to drop fat.

I'm not sure what your reasons are for wanting to drop fat, but sacrificing satiation and meal frequency seems to risk leaving you in a stressed state, and spending a lot of time stressed may not be supportive for recovery?

If you are not intolerant of milk, then low fat milk and cheese can provide valuable protein as well as calcium etc to support good nutrition, and Peat has recommended it along with fruit/juice, eggs, occasional liver and shellfish as suitable when trying to lose extra fat as well as for general health at other times.
On the other hand, if myelination issues are involved, then I'm not sure if low fat is necessarily going to be helpful. (Again, remembering I'm no expert.)

Wondering if you would find anything worth considering in this article from Peat regarding nerve (de)myelination processes, or maybe other on his site:
MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS AND OTHER HORMONE-RELATED BRAIN SYNDROMES

Maybe try this one too? Talks a bit about the effects of unbalanced amino acids, and makes a case for adding gelatin to help balance muscle meats, which may be especially relevant for those of us prone to over-excitable nerves.
Gelatin, stress, longevity

 

[Watson350]

Hi Tara,

I am on a cutting diet currently, verbiage aside, loosing weight but not necessarily dropping fat from my dietary intake. What I attempted to extrapolate on is the difficulty in losing weight, dieting, with milk, cheese, and fruits while maintaining high protein to protect your muscles from glycogenesis. I think the peat diet long term is wonderful for many, but if your goal is to lose weight and 'feel satiated' it is awfully difficult to manage with all the dairy, that has moderate protein, the fruit, which has none, and then finding additional protein elsewhere. The calories will simply be too high.

Today I did not take calcium/magnesium from country life but i did consume vitamin a, k2, d3, e, biotin, and boswellia and maintained a slight twinge of pain. Reminder, I had no pain with boswellia and biotin alone. Its possible I dont require all the vitamins with the fruit and veggies I eat and that perhaps I am overdoing it.

I am going to start the no shampoo lifestyle tonight, in the hopes that the selenium, silicone and calcium build up traps dht in the hair follicle, so not doing so might improve my hair health. Wish me luck. P.S. try my boswellia and biotin for your migraines. I would also get a ct scan to check if you have a septal spur or any contact points in your nose. I know the best doctor's in the world for contact point headaches, I had them, and flew everywhere and did extensive research and had 7 surgeries.

 

[tara]

Hi,
I'm wary about trying to get a CT scan. I know there's a possibility that there is some mechanical structural contribution. It's also quite likely that the migraines are largely a product of systemic issues. CT scans involve a large amount of x-ray radiation, and are inherently harmful - they could well make the problem worse. So it's a bit of a trade-off. (Even if I could could convince a dr to refer me for one.) Not so keen at this stage. Now if there were ways to investigate it with an MRI I'd be more interested ...
I supplement biotin and other B-vits regularly. How much biotin do you use? I've just looked up boswelia. Looks interesting. Any reason to think it's anti-inflammatory/potentially anti-brain edema effects are more effective than other agents, eg aspirin etc?

How are you taking your fat soluble vitamins? Some people are sensitive to them orally, and do better with transdermal application. I think Peat says he reacts badly to some even transdermally anywhere near his face - thin skin of feet and ankle can be another option. You could try that, and/or maybe smaller doses, if you want to experiment further. For the calcium and Mg, you could also try smaller doses.

I am on a cutting diet currently, verbiage aside, loosing weight but not necessarily dropping fat from my dietary intake. What I attempted to extrapolate on is the difficulty in losing weight, dieting, with milk, cheese, and fruits while maintaining high protein to protect your muscles from glycogenesis. I think the peat diet long term is wonderful for many, but if your goal is to lose weight and 'feel satiated' it is awfully difficult to manage with all the dairy, that has moderate protein, the fruit, which has none, and then finding additional protein elsewhere. The calories will simply be too high.

I'm not sure I'm with you on the maths and macros here, and for myself, my priority is supporting my health over accomplishing any particular shape, but your priorities are yours to choose.

 

[tara]

Not meaning dairy is compulsory. I tend to limit it myself for other reasons.

 

[Watson350]

Not meaning dairy is compulsory. I tend to limit it myself for other reasons.

Hi Tara,

I have never heard of transdermal vitamins. I have seen Haidut has his line of of droplets which i assume go on the tongue or are as directed. Today I cut out vitamin d3 and bought milk to replace the calcium magnesium, so far pretty solid although I have not partaken in the milk just yet, I felt our correspondence more important . (I have tried to get in contact with Haidut the magnificent to no avail. I also live in DC)

My vitamin A is derived from cod liver oil I suppose I should change the source in time. I am currently on 2000 mcg's of biotin as recommended by erudite hair folk on this forum . I have not compared aspirin to any anti-inflammatory directly, my ideal drug would increase pge2 and suppress pgd2 so if you know any please I am all ears. I would be remised if I did not mention that boswellia blocks prostaglandin e2 which, depending on which pseudoscientific journal you read, has been shown to incite hair growth. For me this is discouraging, though the benefits are evident, and I am still researching other vehicles by which to keep the pain low and maximize my hair health and growth.

I implore you Tara, your devoutness to peataterianism duly noted, get a CT scan if you have migraines and the nutrition and supplements are insufficient. Why impale your quality of life for hubris or sheer conceit in austerity to a life style; Peat himself would surely encourage you if he was privy to contact point headaches, sluder's neuralgia etc. I won't tell you how much money I spent on surgeries, flights, neuro ophthalmologists, etc and so forth all to find out a CT scan would have been sufficient.

I rowed at University and have always wanted to get back to that body of a wide back, no waist all the while maintaining the musculature of present. Peat talks about dropping calories overall to lose weight , I defer to the specificity of which areas of the diet to drop calories to preserve BMI and have surmised dairy to be ideal in this regard.

 

[Watson350]

I also do Intermittent Fasting, after coming from a low carb diet to a more peatatarian diet. For me however, IF is natural, I never eat breakfast as I have never desired it from a very young age. (Brunch is forced upon people, its silly sociological vanity at play). In general I probably get hungry around 12:30 -1 pm and I just push my first meal to 2 pm, thats about it. Completely unencumbered by physical urges, I am lead to believe hours and hours without eating is perfectly natural.

I have hard water in my house. Do you think the calcium magnesium from the hard water is absorbed into my scalp and any additional calcium from milk or supplementation is therefore superfluous. Moreover, should I have a filter installed?